CHICAGO – The Illinois Republican Party today called on Illinois Senate candidate David Hoffman to renounce his endorsement by Illinois State Senator Jeff Schoenberg – a leading recipient of SEIU campaign contributions and the man who introduced Hoffman at his campaign kick-off event.

“…the union leadership that was Blago’s biggest supporter and whose president was completely enmeshed in the controversy over Rod’s attempt to sell this Senate seat. (He even appears on the infamous Blagojevich wiretap!) You can bet Giannoulias will sit silently on the dais and smile broadly as he receives the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) leadership, just as he did when the Blagojevich controversy first surfaced. He doesn’t rock the boat, and he’s no doubt excited about stepping up to the same trough that netted Blagojevich more than a million dollars in campaign cash.”

But earlier this month, Hoffman was endorsed and introduced by State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg at his Senate campaign kick-off. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Schoenberg accepted $13,400 in campaign contributions from SEIU. In addition, state records show Schoenberg also contributed $12,500 to Rod Blagojevich’s campaign.

“David Hoffman can’t have it both ways when it comes to Rod Blagojevich and SEIU,” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said. “When you do business with Illinois Democrats, you do business with Rod Blagojevich and the SEIU. If David Hoffman is serious about changing Illinois, he should call on Jeff Schoenberg to return all SEIU campaign contributions or else renounce his endorsement.”

Tom Roeser is reporting that Steele is withdrawing his endorsement of Kirk in the Republican Primary. Now, given the loopiness of Michael Steele, it’s hard to say if this means much, but I still contend, Mark Kirk may have a serious primary to face. I definitely think he is a favorite for a primary, but the right wing base hates him and a conservative challenger has a very good shot at knocking him off. I’m not sure that will be Hughes, but if you are a conservative Republican in Illinois seeing opportunity right now, that race is ripe for a serious challenger. And if not, Hughes may turn into a serious candidate.

“Congressman Mark Kirk, who in the past has voted both for and against extending unemployment benefits, apparently could not decide between pandering to right wing Republican primary voters by voting against extending unemployment benefits or doing right by thousands of Illinoisans who are facing losing their unemployment benefits. So, Kirk did the most politically courageous thing he could think of — and skipped the vote,” said a statement put out by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, among four Democrats running for Senate, followed up with his own shot on Kirk, a five-term North Shore congressman. Giannoulias contended it was Kirk’s backing of Bush administration economic policies that “helped put thousands of Illinoisans out of work to begin with.”

The Republican National Senatorial Committee waded in, noting that three prominent Chicago Democratic congressmen—Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush and Luis Gutierrez—also didn’t cast votes on the legislation, which passed on a bipartisan 331-83 roll call. Kirk, Jackson, Rush and Gutierrez were among 18 congressmen who didn’t vote on the legislation.

Now, Alexi cannot say it, but the rest of us can-if the Republican Party wants to suggest the work habits of those three are the standard to be held up against, they need to work on those standards.

Telling one of the more important constituencies to go screw themselves and essentially lying about their role in the Blagojevich corruption is not generally the way I would advise a statewide candidate to go, but who knows, this Hoffman character might be on to something new:

The National GOP is champing at the bit to make the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Illinois all about former Governor Rod Blagojevich. This morning, the Alexi Giannoulias campaign is serving them up a free punch, trotting out an endorsement from the union leadership that was Blago’s biggest supporter and whose president was completely enmeshed in the controversy over Rod’s attempt to sell this Senate seat. (He even appears on the infamous Blagojevich wiretap!)

Balanoff blew off Blagojevich. The worst I can say about the SEIU in Illinois is that Jerry Morrison the exec director is a thin skinned and can’t stop himself from charging into a fight.

You can bet Giannoulias will sit silently on the dais and smile broadly as he receives the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) leadership, just as he did when the Blagojevich controversy first surfaced. He doesn’t rock the boat, and he’s no doubt excited about stepping up to the same trough that netted Blagojevich more than a million dollars in campaign cash.

It’s not the janitors, health care workers, security personnel and other hard-working SEIU members who are the problem. It’s not even the idea that the SEIU endorses candidates and puts its political power to use. We support the rank-and-file and their agenda for social justice. We take issue with the SEIU leadership– the same leadership who once stood next to and endorsed Blagojevich as his strongest champions– the same leader who was allegedly captured on a Federal wiretap having behind-the-scenes discussions with the Governor about his cynical and outrageous attempt to leverage this very Senate seat (the one he called “[bleeping] golden”) for his own personal and political advantage.

This kind of merry-go-round involving the same cozy insiders doing the same political dance is what’s wrong with Illinois politics. This is why David Hoffman– a true independent corruption-fighter with no ties to the scandals of the past– is running to be our senator. We deserve better. The SEIU members deserve better. David stands with them.

The National Republicans who are looking to take the President’s Senate seat next year are going to have a good morning with this endorsement. But come February 2, the people of Illinois will have a choice between more politics as usual and turning the page. As the Democratic nominee for this Senate seat, David Hoffman will take the corruption issue and Rod Blagojevich’s dirty dealings off the table. Then, the Republicans will have to run on the issues – and that’s a contest they can’t win.

SEIU has been one of the key organizations in fighting against Daley having a complete rubber stamp. They pushed for the independent challenges in the Aldermanic races. They did stick by Blagojevich for far too long and backed Stroger–both of which were stupid decisions and calling them on that is fair. That said, they also organized home child care workers and home health care workers during the Blagojevich administration and have made demonstrable improvements in the lives of those workers.

Rich also reminds us that they are also the only ones challenging Democratic incumbents in primaries and even applied enough pressure to Madigan that he has agreed in safe seats that he can live with that. That’s something we haven’t had in years.

SEIU was also a huge factor in getting Barack Obama the Democratic nomination in 2004. Does Hoffman want to call that dirty insider politics? Because last I checked it was Dan Hynes who had most of the establishment support.

25 % of Dems are true Truthers thinking Bush actively allowed 9-11 to get the United States in a Middle East war.

19 % of Republicans think Obama is the Anti-Christ

14 % of Democrats think Bush is.

I discount the last question because some people may just answer as a flip question, but the first two numbers are staggering. It’s common for voters to be poorly informed, it’s not as common for such widespread conspiracy theories to be accepted.

What has Beck been pushing on his legions? “Leap,” first published in 1981, is a heavily illustrated and factually challenged attempt to explain American history through an unspoken lens of Mormon theology. As such, it is an early entry in the ongoing attempt by the religious right to rewrite history. Fundamentalists want to define the United States as a Christian nation rather than a secular republic, and recast the Founding Fathers as devout Christians guided by the Bible rather than deists inspired by French and English philosophers. “Leap” argues that the U.S. Constitution is a godly document above all else, based on natural law, and owes more to the Old and New Testaments than to the secular and radical spirit of the Enlightenment. It lists 28 fundamental beliefs — based on the sayings and writings of Moses, Jesus, Cicero, John Locke, Montesquieu and Adam Smith — that Skousen says have resulted in more God-directed progress than was achieved in the previous 5,000 years of every other civilization combined. The book reads exactly like what it was until Glenn Beck dragged it out of Mormon obscurity: a textbook full of aggressively selective quotations intended for conservative religious schools like Utah’s George Wythe University, where it has been part of the core freshman curriculum for decades (and where Beck spoke at this year’s annual fundraiser).

======

In 1981, Skousen published “The 5,000 Year Leap,” the book for which, thanks to Beck, he is now best known. But it wasn’t that Skousen book that made the biggest headline in the 1980s. Toward the end of Reagan’s second term, Skousen became the center of a minor controversy when state legislators in California approved the official use of another of his books, the 1982 history text “The Making of America.” Besides bursting with factual errors, Skousen’s book characterized African-American children as “pickaninnies” and described American slave owners as the “worst victims” of the slavery system. Quoting the historian Fred Albert Shannon, “The Making of America” explained that “[slave] gangs in transit were usually a cheerful lot, though the presence of a number of the more vicious type sometimes made it necessary for them all to go in chains.”

Skousen spent the 1990s in semi-retirement. He spoke occasionally around the country and welcomed visiting politicians to his Salt Lake City home on Berkeley Street. His death in January 2006 was little noticed outside Mormon circles. If LDS members debated his legacy, it was in mostly hushed tones. But by then, he was already poised for a posthumous revival

How a bipolar crying loon has gained prominence in American conservatism based on beliefs that are batshit crazy is an interesting tale. It’s not that there aren’t other out there like him, it’s that for many years they were constrained to the Letters to the Editor in the Pantagraph.

Birther attorney Orly Taitz tells TPMmuckraker she believes a letter sent by her now ex-client renouncing Taitz — in a case alleging that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery — may itself be a forgery. It’s worth noting that Taitz submitted as evidence in the original filing in the “birther soldier” case of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes a “Kenyan birth certificate” that is itself an obvious forgery.

In the e-mail to TPMmuckraker (read it in full below), Taitz claims she was acting like any attorney would by not seeking “additional consent” from her client before filing what she refers to as a “Motion for reconsideration.” It was actually an emergency request for stay of deployment — which seems like the kind of thing you’d want to consult an Iraq-bound client about.

The ultimate reality show would be the Surreal Life with her and fellow birther Alan Keyes.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN INDICTED ORGANIZATIONS.

(a) Prohibitions- With respect to any covered organization, the following prohibitions apply:

(1) No Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or any other form of agreement (including a memorandum of understanding) may be awarded to or entered into with the organization.

(2) No Federal funds in any other form may be provided to the organization.

(3) No Federal employee or contractor may promote in any way (including recommending to a person or referring to a person for any purpose) the organization.

(b) Covered Organization– In this section, the term `covered organization’ means any of the following:

(1) Any organization that has been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration.

(2) Any organization that had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements.

(3) Any organization that has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.

(4) Any organization that–

(A) employs any applicable individual, in a permanent or temporary capacity;

(B) has under contract or retains any applicable individual; or

(C) has any applicable individual acting on the organization’s behalf or with the express or apparent authority of the organization….

(3) The term `applicable individual’ means an individual who has been indicted for a violation under Federal or State law relating to an election for Federal or State office.

Realistically this sort of legislation could never be practically implemented, but I think it raises some excellent issues regarding fraud and government contractors on a level far greater than ACORN which gets relative chicken feed from the federal government. This doesn’t mean ACORN shouldn’t be held accountable, it just makes the crusade against them look insane. Democrats ought to sign on as sponsors and see if the Republicans really want to follow through with it.

Of course, I don’t have a birth certificate from the hospital. I have one from Will County which is the legal one that is accorded full faith and credit by the Constitution. There’s a level of wingnuttery that continues to get into normal discussion that is remarkable.

In her most recent tirade, Plaintiff’s counsel seeks
reconsideration of the Court’s order dismissing this action. Instead 2
of seriously addressing the substance of the Court’s order, counsel
repeats her political diatribe against the President, complains that
she did not have time to address dismissal of the action (although
she sought expedited consideration), accuses the undersigned of
treason, and maintains that “the United States District Courts in the

11th Circuit are subject to political pressure, external control, and
. . . subservience to the same illegitimate chain of command which
Plaintiff has previously protested.” (Pl.’s Emergency Req. for Stay
of Deployment 2.) This filing contemptuously ignores the Court’s

previous admonition that Plaintiff’s counsel discontinue her
illegitimate use of the federal judiciary to further her political
agenda. The Court finds that the claims and legal contentions
asserted in the present motion are not warranted by existing law and
that no reasonable basis exists to conclude that Plaintiff’s
arguments would be accepted as an extension, modification, or
reversal of existing law. Simply, put the motion is frivolous.
Moreover, the Court further finds that Plaintiff’s motion is being
presented for the improper purpose of using the federal judiciary as
a platform to espouse controversial political beliefs rather than as
a legitimate forum for hearing legal claims. Counsel’s conduct
violates Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and
sanctions are warranted. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion for
reconsideration (Doc. 15) is denied, and counsel for Plaintiff is
ordered to show cause why the Court should not impose a monetary
penalty of $10,000.00 upon Plaintiff’s counsel for her misconduct.
Counsel shall file her response to this show cause order within 14
days of today’s order.

SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants.” You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.

Yes, and telling them they will go to hell will stop them from masturbating. Or that 10 % of them will lie about masturbating.